Method and device for activating and de-activating uplink of secondary cell of terminal

ABSTRACT

A method and device for activating and de-activating an uplink of a secondary cell of a terminal. The method includes: determining a number of component carrier waves an RF chain of the terminal can simultaneously receive; determining an activation method to be used for uplink activation according to the number of component carrier waves; and, based on needs, sending information that carries the activation method. Using the method and device, one can determine the activation or de-activation method according to the number of the component carrier waves the terminal&#39;s RF chain can simultaneously receive, thus conserving electricity consumption of the terminal and avoiding communication interruptions.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based on the PCT Application No. PCT/CN2011/077101filed on Jul. 13, 2011 and entitled “Method And Device for ActivatingAnd De-Activating Uplink Of Secondary Cell Of Terminal”, claimingpriority to Chinese Application No. 201010254678.4 filed on Aug. 13,2010 and entitled “Method And Device for Activating And De-ActivatingUplink Of Secondary Cell Of User Equipment”. The contents of both of theapplications are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

The application relates to communication field and particularly to amethod and apparatus for activating and deactivating the uplink of asecondary cell of user equipment.

BACKGROUND

The future LTE-A (Long Term Evolution Advanced) system will support atransmission bandwidth up to 100 MHz, while the maximum transmissionbandwidth supportable by the LTE (Long Term Evolution) standard is 20MHz. Thus to achieve the higher transmission bandwidth, it requires toaggregate multiple carriers. Carrier aggregation (CA) is a technique ofaggregating multiple carriers for combined transmission, which isproposed by 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) to meet the hightransmission bandwidth requirement of the future mobile systems. Carrieraggregation may be classified into consecutive carrier aggregation andnon-consecutive aggregation based on the positions of the carriers thatare aggregated on the spectrum. LTE-A will support both of the two CAscenarios. While introducing the CA technique, 3GPP also considers itsbackward compatibility, which means that user equipments (UEs)supporting CA and UEs not supporting CA will co-exist for a long time inthe future. A CA supporting UE can be connected to a plurality ofcomponent carriers (CCs) at the same time, and a UE not supporting CAcan be connected to only a certain CC.

FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 illustrate application scenarios of the presentapplication. The 3 application scenarios as shown are preferreddeployment scenarios for carrier aggregation and represent 3 typicalapplication examples of carrier aggregation. In FIG. 1 the coverage ofthe cells corresponding to carriers F1 and F2 are substantiallycoincident, i.e. F1 and F2 provide coverage areas similar to each other.F1 and F2 may be arranged in the same carrier band, which is a typicalconsecutive CA scenario. FIGS. 2 and 3 each show an example ofnon-consecutive CA, in which F1 and F2 may be located in differentcarrier band. The cell corresponding to F1 is used to ensure thecoverage and the cell corresponding to F2 is used to improve thethroughput. The difference between FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 lies in that, inFIG. 3 the antenna of the cell corresponding to F2 is directed to theedge area of the cell corresponding to F1, therefore the applicationscenario of FIG. 3 can significantly improve the throughput of the edgearea of the cell corresponding to F1.

To simplify the wireless resource management under CA scenarios, LTE-Aintroduces the concept of “primary frequency”. Accordingly, the cellcorresponding to the primary frequency is referred to as a “primarycell”. When UE has a high data transmission requirement, it may enterinto CA transmission mode, and thus the UE needs to be allocated with anew component carrier (CC), that is, a secondary cell needs to beprovided to the UE. In the CA operation mode, in order to maintain thepower consumption of the UE at a normal level, a mechanism of activatingand deactivating the downlink of the secondary cell is introduced. Whenthe secondary cell is deactivated, the UE does not receive thecorresponding control channel information (PDCCH or PDSCH), and needsnot to measure the channel quality. When the secondary cell isactivated, the operation is the reverse, that is, the UE receives thecorresponding control channel information. The activating ordeactivating of the downlink of the corresponding secondary cell isdecided by a control signaling (control element) in the media accesscontrol (MAC) layer transmitted by the base station, or the downlink ofa secondary cell may be deactivated in an implicit manner by using atimer.

To activate the uplink of a secondary cell, the most natural processingmanners including two types. One activating manner is similar to theactivating of the downlink, i.e. an activating command may be explicitlytransmitted to activate the uplink of the secondary cell. This explicitcommand can be transmitted together with the command for activating thedownlink of the secondary cell. Alternatively, the uplink of thesecondary cell can be activated separately when the uplink datatransmission amount increases. Another uplink activating manner is animplicit manner. In other words, when the downlink of a secondary cellis activated, the uplink corresponding to this downlink is activated atthe same time. In this manner, explicitly transmitting a command ofactivating the uplink is not needed.

The advantage of using the explicit command lies in that, for UE havingonly a single RF chain, the transmission bandwidth may be adjusted asthe sum of bandwidths of activated cells, instead of being set as thesum of bandwidths of all the cells allocated to the UE (the number ofall the cells allocated to the UE is larger than or equal to the numberof the activated cells). In this way, the power consumption of the UEcan be further saved. The disadvantage of using the explicit commandlies in that, when the uplink of a new secondary cell is needed to beactivated, the delay necessary for adjusting the RF transmissionbandwidth can result in communication interrupt or data loss during thetime period of the delay. In addition, the use of the explicit MAC layercontrol signaling may increase the amount of corresponding controlinformation.

The advantage of using the implicit command lies in that, the amount ofMAC layer control information is not increased and the process oftransmitting and handling the control signaling is implied. Thedisadvantage of using the implicit command lies in that, for UE havingonly a single RF chain, the transmission bandwidth is the sum ofbandwidths of all its cells, regardless of whether the secondary cell(s)is activated or not. In this way, the power consumption of the UE isincreased. At the same time, the advantage thereof is that, when theuplink of a new secondary cell is activated, the transmission bandwidthneeds not to be adjusted and thus no communication interrupt and datapacket loss are resulted.

It is to be noted that, in the disclosure the so-called uplink anddownlink may be correlated with each other based on system informationblock 2 (SIB2) (i.e. cell-based correlation), or may be correlated basedon UE.

As can be seen from above, for UE having only a single RF chain, powerconsumption and communication interrupt are two key issues, which cannot be solved at the same time by the above explicit command manner orby the implicit command manner.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order toprovide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. Thissummary is not an exhaustive overview of the disclosure. It is notintended to identify key or critical elements of the disclosure or todelineate the scope of the disclosure. Its sole purpose is to presentsome concepts in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detaileddescription that is discussed later.

The invention is directed to solve the above problem in the related art.The manner of activating or deactivating the uplink of a secondary cellof UE is determined by the number of CCs that can be received at thesame time via the RF chain of the UE, to save the power consumption ofthe UE and avoid communication interrupt thereof.

According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a method foractivating an uplink of a secondary cell for user equipment including:determining the number of component carriers received simultaneously bya radio frequency chain for the user equipment; determining anactivating manner employed for activating the uplink according to thenumber of the component carriers; and sending a message carrying theactivating manner as desired.

According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a methodfor deactivating an uplink of a secondary cell for user equipmentincluding: determining the number of component carriers receivedsimultaneously by a radio frequency chain for the user equipment;determining a deactivating manner employed for deactivating the uplinkaccording to the number of the component carriers; and sending a messagecarrying the deactivating manner as desired.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, there is provided anapparatus for activating an uplink of a secondary cell for userequipment including: a component carrier number determining firstmodule, for determining the number of component carriers receivedsimultaneously by a radio frequency chain for the user equipment; anactivating manner determining module, for determining an activatingmanner employed for activating the uplink according to the number of thecomponent carriers; and a message transmitting first module, for sendinga message carrying the activating manner as desired.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, there is provided anapparatus for deactivating an uplink of a secondary cell for userequipment including: a component carrier number determining secondmodule, for determining the number of component carriers receivedsimultaneously by a radio frequency chain for the user equipment; anactivating manner determining module, for determining an deactivatingmanner employed for deactivating the uplink according to the number ofthe component carriers; and a message transmitting second module, forsending a message carrying the deactivating manner as desired.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, there is provided amethod for activating an uplink of secondary cell for user equipmentincluding: receiving a message carrying an activating manner; andactivating the uplink according to the activating manner.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, there is provided amethod for deactivating an uplink of secondary cell for user equipmentincluding: receiving a message carrying a deactivating manner; anddeactivating the uplink according to the deactivating manner.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, there is provided anapparatus for activating an uplink of secondary cell for user equipment,including: a first receiving module, for receiving a message carrying anactivating manner; and an activating module, for activating the uplinkaccording to the activating manner.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, there is provided anapparatus for deactivating an uplink of secondary cell for userequipment, including: a second receiving module, for receiving a messagecarrying an deactivating manner; and a deactivating module, fordeactivating the uplink according to the deactivating manner.

In addition, an embodiment of the invention provides computer programfor realizing the above methods.

Furthermore, an embodiment of the invention provides a computer programproduct in the form of computer readable medium on which there arerecorded computer program codes for the above methods.

The above and other advantages of the disclosure can be more apparentwith reference to the best mode of the invention in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the embodimentsof the disclosure can be better understood with reference to thedescription given below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,throughout which identical or like components are denoted by identicalor like reference signs. In addition the components shown in thedrawings are merely to illustrate the principle of the disclosure. Inthe drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a first CA scenario according tothe related art;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a second CA scenario according tothe related art;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a third CA scenario according tothe related art;

FIG. 4 is a schematic flow chart showing a method of activating by abase station an uplink of a secondary cell of a UE according to anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic flow chart showing a method of activating by abase station an uplink of a secondary cell of a UE according to anotherembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic flow chart showing a method of activating by abase station an uplink of a secondary cell of a UE in the case ofcross-scheduling;

FIG. 7 is a schematic flow chart showing a method of deactivating by abase station an uplink of a secondary cell of a UE according to anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic flow chart showing a method of deactivating by abase station an uplink of a secondary cell of a UE according to anotherembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 9 shows an apparatus of activating an uplink of a secondary cell ofa UE according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 10 shows an apparatus of deactivating an uplink of a secondary cellof a UE according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 11 is a schematic flow chart showing a method of activating by a UEan uplink of a secondary cell of the UE according to an embodiment ofthe invention;

FIG. 12 is a schematic flow chart showing a method of deactivating by aUE an uplink of a secondary cell of the UE according to an embodiment ofthe invention;

FIG. 13 is a schematic block diagram showing an apparatus of activatingan uplink of a secondary cell of a UE according to an embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 14 is a schematic block diagram showing an apparatus ofdeactivating an uplink of a secondary cell of a UE according to anembodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 15 is a schematic block diagram showing the structure of a computerrealizing embodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some embodiments of the present disclosure will be described inconjunction with the accompanying drawings hereinafter. It should benoted that the elements and/or features shown in a drawing or disclosedin an embodiments may be combined with the elements and/or featuresshown in one or more other drawing or embodiments. It should be furthernoted that some details regarding some components and/or processesirrelevant to the disclosure or well known in the art are omitted forthe sake of clarity and conciseness.

Referring to FIG. 4, a method of activating by a base station an uplinkof a secondary cell of a UE according to an embodiment of the inventionis described below.

As shown in FIG. 4, in step 402 the number of CCs that can besimultaneously received via the RF chain of the UE is determined. Instep 404, the activating manner for activating the uplink is determinedbased on the number of the CCs. In step 406, it is determined whetherthe currently used activating manner and the activating mannerdetermined in step 404 both are implicit activating manner. If either ofthe currently used activating manner and the activating mannerdetermined in step 404 is explicit activating manner (No in step 406), amessage indicating the determined activating manner is sent in step 408.If the currently used activating manner and the activating mannerdetermined in step 404 both are implicit activating manner (Yes in step406), it is preferred not to send the message indicating the determinedactivating manner.

In the embodiment, if the currently used activating manner is animplicit activating manner and the activating manner determined to beused is an explicit activating manner, or if the currently usedactivating manner is an explicit activating manner and the activatingmanner determined to be used is an explicit activating manner, or if thecurrently used activating manner is an explicit activating manner andthe activating manner determined to be used is an implicit activatingmanner, a message indicating the determined activating manner is sent.If the currently used activating manner and the activating mannerdetermined to be used both are implicit activating manner, it ispreferred not to send the message indicating the determined activatingmanner. That is, the message indicating the determined activating manneris sent as desired.

The message may be an MAC layer control signaling transmitted by thebase station. Of course, the message can be transmitted by the UEalternatively.

Referring to FIG. 5, a method of activating by a base station an uplinkof a secondary cell of a UE according to another embodiment of theinvention is described below.

As shown in FIG. 5, in step 502 the number of the CCs that can besimultaneously received via the RF chain of the UE is determined. Instep 504, it is determined whether the number of CCs is larger than 1.If the data of only one CC can be received on a radio frequency chain(No in step 504), in step 506 the uplink of the secondary cellcorresponding to the frequency is activated by using the explicitactivating manner after the downlink of the secondary cell is activated.In other words, whether the uplink of the secondary cell is activated isdecided based on the requirements of data transmission. In an example inwhich only the data of one CC is received on a certain radio frequencychain, for the inter-frequency CA mode, two CCs are used where thecentral frequency of one of the CCs is at 800 MHz and the centralfrequency of the other of the CCs is at 2 GHz; the UE has two RF chainswhere one RF chain corresponds to the frequency of 800 MHz and the otherRF chain corresponds to the frequency of 2 G. In another example inwhich only the data of one CC is received on a certain radio frequencychain, for the intra-frequency CA mode, two CCs are used where thecentral frequencies of both CCs are at 800 MHz; the UE has two RF chainsand each of the two CCs can be allocated respectively to thecorresponding one of the two RF chains.

In step 508, a message indicating that the explicit activating manner isdetermined in the above step is transmitted. In the case of datatransmission requirement, an explicit activating command is transmittedin step 510, and the UE activates the uplink in response to the explicitactivating command (step UE562).

Regarding the CA transmission mode, the UE is not required to employ thesymmetrical transmission. That is, using the downlink of a carrier(cell) for transmission does not necessarily mean that the correspondinguplink carrier (cell) is required for transmission. In the transitionprocess of the secondary cell from the deactivated state to theactivated state, since only one carrier frequency is allocated on one RFchain, the other RF chains will not be affected. Thus the uplinktransmission part (the uplink transmission link) of the RF chain can beactivated on when it is required, which can further save the powerconsumption. In this way, the communication of the UE is not interruptedand the power consumption of the UE is reduced.

If a certain RF chain is allocated to simultaneously receive the data ofmultiple CCs (Yes in step 504), the activating manner of activating theuplink of the secondary cell corresponding to the multiple CCs isdecided based on the particular scenario. In an example in which acertain RF chain is allocated to simultaneously receive the data ofmultiple CCs, for the intra-frequency CA mode, two CCs are used and thecentral frequencies of both the CCs are at 800 MHz; the UE has only oneRF chain and at this time, the two CCs are allocated to the RD chain. Instep 512, the frequency of the uplink being activated is determined.Then in step 514, it is determined whether to use the implicitactivating manner or the explicit activating manner based on thefrequency of the uplink being activated.

Preferably, a frequency threshold value can be predetermined. When thedetermined frequency is larger than the threshold value (Yes in step514), it is determined to employ the implicit activating manner for theuplink in step 516.

Particularly, the activating manner can be determined based on theservice type and the data amount borne by the UE. If the service borneby the UE is of the type of burst service or if the data amount islarge, which means that the dynamic activating (or deactivating)operation will be frequently performed within a relatively lone time,the communication interrupt resulted from the frequently performedactivating operations is intolerable. At this time, the transmissionbandwidth of the RF chain is adjusted to be the sum of bandwidths of theentire cells, which means that the implicit activating manner is used toactivate the uplink of the secondary cell.

In step 518, it is determined whether the implicit activating manner iscurrently used. If the implicit activating manner is currently used (Yesin step 518), the message containing the implicit activating mannerneeds not to be sent.

If the explicit activating manner is currently used (No in step 518),the message containing the implicit activating manner is sent in step520. For example, an MAC layer control signaling may be sent via networkto activate the uplink of the secondary cell.

If the UE finds that the downlink of the secondary cell is activated(step UE564), the uplink of the secondary cell is also activated(UE566). In other words, in response to the activating of the downlink,the corresponding uplink is activated by the UE. In addition, using theimplicit activating manner can also avoid the burden of transmittingexplicit activating commands necessary for the frequent activation.

If the frequency is less than the threshold value (No in step 514), itis determined to use the explicit activating manner in step 522.

Particularly, if at this time the service borne by the UE is not a burstservice or if the data amount is not large, the dynamic activating (ordeactivating) operation will not be frequently performed. At this time,to reduce the power consumption of the UE, the transmission bandwidth ofthe RF chain is adjusted to be the sum of bandwidths of the activatedcells, which means that the explicit activating manner is used toactivate the uplink of the secondary cell in such situation.

Preferably, the frequency of activating may be determined based on theservice type and/or data amount borne by the UE. Preferably, the UE maycollect the related information (regarding the amount of data to beuplink transmitted and the service type, etc.) and transmit the data tothe base station. The base station decides which activating manner is tobe used. Or the decision may be performed by the UE based on thecollected information and the result of the decision may be notified tothe base station.

In step 524, the message containing the explicit activating manner issent. Next in step 526, an explicit activating command (e.g. controlinformation transmitted via MAC layer) is transmitted according to theservice requirement, to activate the uplink of the cell (UE568).

In step 528, the time period needed to adjust the uplink is estimated.Particularly, the start time and the length of the time period needed toadjust the uplink are estimated. In step 530, no wireless resource blockis allocated to the UE during this time period.

Particularly, the re-adjustment of transmission bandwidth due to theactivating operation may inevitably result in the interrupt ofcommunication or the loss of data. To reduce the data loss, thefollowing optimizing method may be used: since under the explicitactivating manner the activating command is sent from the base station,the base station can predict when the transmission bandwidth of the RFchain of the UE is to be adjusted and can estimate in advance how longwill be the time for the adjusting (generally no more than 1 ms). Toavoid the data loss during this time period, the base station may adjustthe resource allocation algorithm of the scheduler such that no wirelessresource block is allocated to the UE during this time period. In thisway, the data loss due to the explicit manner can be avoided.

In an embodiment of the solution, the implicit activating manner may beset as the default manner for activating the uplink of the secondarycell. When the base station decides to use the explicit activatingmanner and transmits the explicit command, it may be determined that theexplicit activating manner is employed for activating the uplink of thesecondary cell, and the explicit activating manner may be maintaineduntil the secondary cell is deactivated.

In the case of cross-scheduling in CA, in the PDCCH of a certain cell,the data transmission PDSCH of the other cells may be indicated.

Referring to FIG. 6, a method of activating by a base station an uplinkof a secondary cell of a UE in the case of cross-scheduling is describedbelow.

As shown in FIG. 6, after step 524 or 508, an uplink transmissionauthorization may be transmitted via the uplink. In step 532, it isdetermined whether the transmission authorization contains a carrierindicator field. If the transmission authorization contains a carrierindicator field (Yes in step 532), the uplink corresponding to thecarrier indicator field is activated in step 534. If the transmissionauthorization contains no carrier indicator field (No in step 532), theuplink corresponding to the downlink is activated in step 536.

Particularly, if the UE receives, via a cell (which may be a primarycell or a secondary cell), an uplink transmission authorizationcontaining a carrier indicator field (CIF) for another secondary cell(designated by the CIF), the uplink of the designated secondary cell isactivated implicitly. If the UE can not receive an uplink transmissionauthorization via a cell, the uplink of the secondary cell via which anuplink transmission authorization is activated implicitly. In otherwords, the uplink corresponding to the downlink is activated implicitly.Here the uplink and downlink may be correlated based on systeminformation block 2 (SIB2) (i.e., cell-based correlation), or may becorrelated based on UE.

In the case that a UE has multiple of secondary cells, the implicit andexplicit activating manners can co-exist in the communication system.For example, the explicit activating manner is currently used toactivate the uplinks of all the secondary cells allocated to a UE. Anuplink transmission authorization is obtained on any of these secondarycells. At this time the uplink which obtains the uplink transmissionauthorization is implicitly activated (in the case that there is noCIF). Or the uplink of one of these secondary cells is implicitlyactivated based on the indication of CIF; while for the other secondarycells, the explicit activating manner is used.

Referring to FIG. 7, a method of deactivating by a base station anuplink of a secondary cell of a UE according to an embodiment of theinvention is described below.

As shown in FIG. 7, in step 702 the number of CCs that can be receivedsimultaneously by the RF chain of the UE is determined. In step 704, thedeactivating manner to be used for deactivating the uplink is determinedbased on the number of CCs. In step 706, it is judged whether thecurrently employed deactivating manner and the deactivating mannerdetermined in step 704 both are implicit deactivating manner. If eitherof the currently employed deactivating manner and the deactivatingmanner determined in step 704 is the explicit deactivating manner (No instep 706), a message carrying the determined deactivating manner is sentin step 708. If the currently used deactivating manner and thedeactivating manner determined in step 704 both are the implicitdeactivating manner (Yes in step 706), the message carrying thedetermined deactivating manner needs not to be transmitted.

In the embodiment, if the currently used deactivating manner is theimplicit deactivating manner and the deactivating manner determined tobe used is the explicit deactivating manner, or if the currently useddeactivating manner is the explicit deactivating manner and thedeactivating manner determined to be used is the explicit deactivatingmanner, or if the currently used deactivating manner is the explicitdeactivating manner and the deactivating manner determined to be used isthe implicit deactivating manner, the message carrying the determineddeactivating manner is transmitted. If the currently used deactivatingmanner and the deactivating manner determined to be used both are theimplicit deactivating manner, the message carrying the determineddeactivating manner is preferably not transmitted. That is, the messagecarrying the determined deactivating manner is transmitted as required.

The transmitted message may be an MAC layer control signaling from thebase station. Or the message may be transmitted by the UE.

Referring to FIG. 8, a method of deactivating by a base station anuplink of a secondary cell of a UE according to another embodiment ofthe invention is described below.

As shown in FIG. 8, in step 802 the number of CCs that can be receivedsimultaneously by the RF chain of the UE. In step 804, it is determinedwhether the number of CCs is larger than 1. If the data of only one CCcan be received on a radio frequency chain (No in step 804), in step 806the implicit deactivating manner is determined to be used. That is, theuplink of the secondary cell corresponding to the frequency isdeactivated by using the implicit activating manner after the downlinkof the secondary cell is deactivated. In other words, the uplink of thesecondary cell is deactivated when the downlink of the secondary cell isdeactivated. In an example in which only the data of one CC is receivedon a certain radio frequency chain, for the inter-frequency CA mode, twoCCs are used where the central frequency of one of the CCs is at 800 MHzand the central frequency of the other of the CCs is at 2 GHz; the UEhas two RF chains where one RF chain corresponds to the frequency of 800MHz and the other RF chain corresponds to the frequency of 2 G. Inanother example in which only the data of one CC is received on acertain radio frequency chain, for the intra-frequency CA mode, two CCsare used where the central frequencies of both CCs are at 800 MHz; theUE has two RF chains and each of the two CCs can be allocatedrespectively to the corresponding one of the two RF chains.

In step 808 it is determined that the explicit deactivating manner iscurrently used, and next in step 810 a message carrying the implicitdeactivating manner is transmitted. If the currently used deactivatingmanner is the implicit deactivating manner, the message needs not betransmitted.

After the UE determines that the downlink corresponding to the uplink isdeactivated (UE862), the UE deactivates the uplink (UE864).

Deactivating of a secondary cell may be due to the reduction of datatransmission amount, or may be due to the deterioration of the signalquality of the cell, or due to the fact that the base station will notschedule the cell within a certain time. In any of the cases, it isunnecessary to keep the uplink of the cell in the activated state. Thus,the deactivated state of the uplink of a secondary cell is bonded tothat of the downlink of the secondary cell.

If the secondary cell corresponding to an RF chain is in deactivatedstate, the RF chain may be closed (UE866), to further reduce the powerconsumption without affecting the other RF chains.

If an RF chain is allocated to simultaneously receive data of multipleof CCs (Yes in step 804), the deactivating manner for deactivating theuplink of the secondary cell corresponding to the frequency may bedetermined, after the downlink of the secondary cell is deactivated,based on the activating manner for activating the uplink. In step 812,it is determined whether the activating manner of the uplink is theimplicit activating manner.

If the uplink of the secondary cell is activated in the implicitactivating manner (Yes in step 812), it is determined in step 814 to usethe implicit deactivating manner to deactivate the uplink of thesecondary cell. That is, after the downlink of the secondary cell isdeactivated, the uplink of the secondary cell is accordinglydeactivated. The reason lies in that, if the uplink is activatedimplicitly, the transmission bandwidth of the UE is the sum of thebandwidth of the entire cells, and thus even if the uplink of asecondary cell is deactivated explicitly, the whole RF chain can not beclosed since there is still data transmission on other cells. That is,using the explicit deactivating manner in such a case can not bringabout significant reduction in power consumption, but can increase theburden of processing the additional control signaling.

In step 816 is determined that the explicit deactivating manner iscurrently used, and next in step 818 a message carrying the implicitdeactivating manner is transmitted. If the implicit deactivating manneris currently used, the message needs not to be transmitted.

After the UE determines that the downlink corresponding to the uplink isdeactivated (UE868), the UE deactivates the uplink (UE860).

If the uplink of the secondary cell is activated explicitly (No in step812), it is determined in step 820 that the corresponding uplink can bedeactivated in explicit deactivating manner. That is, when the uplinkneeds not to transmit data, for example the uplink can be deactivated byusing a designated deactivating signaling transmitted by the MAC layer.In step 822, a message containing the explicit deactivating manner istransmitted. The reason lies in that, if the uplink is activatedexplicitly, the transmission bandwidth of the UE is the sum of theactivated cells, and the downlink of a secondary cell being used fordata transmission does not mean that the uplink of this secondary cellis also used for data transmission (the asymmetry of the data amounts ofthe downlink and uplink), therefore, deactivating the uplink not in useof the secondary cell in time can cause the transmission bandwidth ofthe RF chain to be adjusted in time, thereby reducing the powerconsumption of the UE.

The message carrying the activating manner and the message carrying thedeactivating manner can be realized by using the MAC layeractivating/deactivating control signaling. In the message the explicitactivating command or the explicit deactivating command can bemultiplexed.

As can be seen from above, the activating/deactivating process of theuplink of a secondary cell may be performed explicitly or implicitly asrequired by the different scenarios. Thus, the design of theactivating/deactivating control signaling may consider the differencesof the different scenarios.

The MAC Sub-header of the MAC layer activating/deactivating controlsignaling may be of the format shown in the following table in which thedigit in parentheses represents the number of bits.

R(1) R(1) E(1) LCID(5)

In the above table, the first identification R(1) has 1 bit; the secondidentification R(1) has 1 bit; and the third identification E indicateswhether there is another sub-header following the current sub-header, 1represents that there is another sub-header following the currentsub-header and 0 in parentheses represents that there is not anothersub-header following the current sub-header. LCID (logical channel ID)identifies the logical channel instants for activating/deactivating.

MAC payload may use the format as shown in the following table.

R2(1) R1(1) R0(1) Cell4(1) Cell3(1) Cell2(1) Cell1(l) Cell0(1)

When the UE uses the CA transmission mode, each added cell may beallocated a cell index. The table shows an example in which the UE canaggregate at most 5 cells. In this example, 5 bits are sufficient toindicate the activating/deactivating process of the UE under CA mode.The meaning of each bit is explained as follows.

Cell0: activating or deactivating a cell with a cell index of 0. Thevalue 1 indicates activating and 0 indicates deactivating.

Cell1: activating or deactivating a cell with a cell index of 1. Thevalue 1 indicates activating and 0 indicates deactivating.

Cell2: activating or deactivating a cell with a cell index of 2. Thevalue 1 indicates activating and 0 indicates deactivating.

Ce113: activating or deactivating a cell with a cell index of 3. Thevalue 1 indicates activating and 0 indicates deactivating.

Cell4: activating or deactivating a cell with a cell index of 4. Thevalue 1 indicates activating and 0 indicates deactivating.

R0: identifying whether there is another byte following the currentbyte. The value 1 indicates that there is another byte following and 0indicates that the transmission content ends here. (This bit is onlyvalid under the explicit activating/deactivating manner of the uplink).

R1: identifying whether the command is valid for uplink or downlink. Thevalue 1 indicates that it is valid for downlink and 0 indicates that itis valid for uplink. (This bit is only valid under the explicitactivating/deactivating manner of the uplink).

R2: identifying whether the command is the explicit or implicitactivating/deactivating command. The value 1 indicates the implicitcommand and 0 indicates the explicit command.

In the MAC layer activating/deactivating control signaling, 1 bit isdefined to identify whether the command is the explicit or implicitactivating/deactivating command. In the MAC layeractivating/deactivating control signaling, 1 bit is defined to identifywhether the command is valid for uplink or downlink (the bit is onlyvalid under the explicit activating/deactivating manner of the uplink).In the MAC layer activating/deactivating control signaling, 1 bit isdefined to identify whether the current byte is followed by another byte(the bit is only valid under the explicit activating/deactivating mannerof the uplink).

The above the MAC layer activating/deactivating control signaling ismerely an example, rather than a limiting to the signaling. In practice,it may be modified as required. For example, 1 or 0 may has othermeanings. And the number of cells that can be aggregated by the UE isnot limited to 5, but can be any other value.

Referring to FIG. 9, an apparatus 900 of activating an uplink of asecondary cell of a UE according to an embodiment of the invention isdescribed below. As shown in FIG. 9, the apparatus 900 of activating anuplink of a secondary cell of a UE includes: a component carrier numberdetermining first module 910 for determining the number of CCs that canbe simultaneously received by the RF chain of the UE; an activatingmanner determining module 920 for determining the activating manner foractivating the uplink based on the number of CCs; and a messagetransmitting first module 930 for transmitting a message carrying theactivating manner.

Referring to FIG. 10, an apparatus 1000 of deactivating an uplink of asecondary cell of a UE according to an embodiment of the invention isdescribed below. As shown in FIG. 10, the apparatus 1000 of deactivatingan uplink of a secondary cell of a UE includes: a component carriernumber determining second module 1010 for determining the number of CCsthat can be simultaneously received by the RF chain of the UE; adeactivating manner determining module 1020 for determining thedeactivating manner for activating the uplink based on the number ofCCs; and a message transmitting second module 1030 for transmitting amessage carrying the deactivating manner.

Referring to FIG. 11, a method of activating by a UE an uplink of asecondary cell of the UE according to an embodiment of the invention isdescribed below.

As shown in FIG. 11, in step 1102 the message carrying the activatingmanner is received and next in step 1104, the uplink is activated basedon the activating manner.

If the activating manner is the explicit activating manner, an explicitactivating command is received and in response to the explicitactivating command, the uplink is activated. After the uplink isactivated, the transmission bandwidth of the RF chain of the UE isadjusted to be the sum of bandwidths of all the activated secondarycells and the primary cell of the UE.

If the activating manner is the implicit activating manner, thetransmission bandwidth of the RF chain of the UE is adjusted to be thesum of bandwidths of all the secondary cells and the primary cell of theUE.

Referring to FIG. 12, a method of deactivating by a UE an uplink of asecondary cell of the UE according to an embodiment of the invention isdescribed below.

As shown in FIG. 12, in step 1202, the message carrying the deactivatingmanner is received and next in step 1204, the uplink is deactivatedbased on the deactivating manner. If the deactivating manner is theexplicit deactivating manner, an explicit deactivating command isreceived and in response to the explicit deactivating command, theuplink is deactivated.

Referring to FIG. 13, an apparatus 1300 of activating an uplink of asecondary cell of the UE according to an embodiment of the invention isdescribed below. As shown in FIG. 13, the apparatus 1300 of activatingan uplink of a secondary cell of the UE includes: a first receivingmodule 1310 for receiving the message carrying the activating manner;and an activating module 1320 for activating the uplink based on theactivating manner.

Referring to FIG. 14, an apparatus 1400 of deactivating an uplink of asecondary cell of the UE according to an embodiment of the invention isdescribed below. As shown in FIG. 14, the apparatus 1400 of deactivatingan uplink of a secondary cell of the UE includes: a second receivingmodule 1410 for receiving the message carrying the deactivating manner;and a deactivating module 1420 for deactivating the uplink based on thedeactivating manner.

According to an embodiment of the invention, if a UE has multiple of RFchains, the open and close of a certain RF chain will not interrupt thecommunication on the other RF chains. Therefore, when a secondary cellis activated or deactivated, the corresponding RF chain needs only to beopened or closed accordingly, which will not result in the communicationinterrupt on the other RF chains. In addition, the RF chain may beopened or closed as required to reduce the power consumption of the UE.In some of the above embodiments of the invention, by using anappropriate activating/deactivating manner according to the number of RFchains owned by the UE and the possible frequency ofactivating/deactivating operation of the UE, the power consumption ofthe UE can be further reduced and the communication interrupt due to thefrequently switching of the activating/deactivating can be avoided. Inaddition, when communication interrupt is inevitable due to the changein activating/deactivating states, the scheduler can estimate in advancethe time when the communication interrupt occurs and the length of timeperiod of the communication interrupt, so as to avoid scheduling thecell within this time period, thereby reducing the data loss due to thecommunication interrupt. In addition, by flexibly configuring anactivating manner of the uplink according to the number of RF chainsowned by the UE and the service type and traffic of the UE, thecompromise between the power consumption of the UE and the communicationinterrupt due to the frequently switching of the activating/deactivatingstates can be achieved.

Those skilled in the art can understand that the above embodiments andexamples are illustrative. The present disclosure should not be regardedas being limited to any particular embodiments or examples stated above.

In the disclosure, the expressions, such as “the first”, “the second”,and “the Nth” are used. Those skilled in the art will appreciate thatsuch expressions are used merely to differentiate the terms in literalso as to describe the invention clearly, and should not be considered asdefining the sequence or the like of the terms.

As an example, the component modules, units or steps in the aboveapparatuses and methods can be configured with software, hardware,firmware or any combination thereof in the base station (e.g. eNodeB) orterminal node (e.g. the UE) of the communication system, as part of thephysical layer apparatus of the base station or the terminal node. Thecomponents, units or steps in the above apparatuses and methods can beconfigured with software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereofby using any appropriate means or manners known in the art, thedescription of which is not detailed herein. As an example, the abovefeedback information receiving apparatuses and methods may be realizedin the physical layer apparatus of the base station by modifying therelated parts of the base station.

As can be understood, a system including the above apparatus accordingto any of the above embodiments should also be encompassed in theprotection scope of the invention.

As an example, in the case of using software or firmware, programsconstituting the software for realizing the above method or apparatuscan be installed to a computer with a specialized hardware structure(e.g. the general purposed computer 1500 as shown in FIG. 15) from astorage medium or a network. The computer, when installed with variousprograms, is capable of carrying out various functions.

In FIG. 15, a central processing unit (CPU) 1501 executes various typesof processing in accordance with programs stored in a read-only memory(ROM) 1502, or programs loaded from a storage unit 1508 into a randomaccess memory (RAM) 1503. The RAM 1503 also stores the data required forthe CPU 1501 to execute various types of processing, as required. TheCPU 1501, the ROM 1502, and the RAM 1503 are connected to one anotherthrough a bus 1504. The bus 1504 is also connected to an input/outputinterface 1505.

The input/output interface 1505 is connected to an input unit 1506composed of a keyboard, a mouse, etc., an output unit 1507 composed of acathode ray tube or a liquid crystal display, a speaker, etc., thestorage unit 1508, which includes a hard disk, and a communication unit1509 composed of a modem, a terminal adapter, etc. The communicationunit 1509 performs communicating processing. A drive 1510 is connectedto the input/output interface 1505, if needed. In the drive 1510, forexample, removable media 1511 is loaded as a recording medium containinga program of the present invention. The program is read from theremovable media 1511 and is installed into the storage unit 1508, asrequired.

In the case of using software to realize the above consecutiveprocessing, the programs constituting the software may be installed froma network such as Internet or a storage medium such as the removablemedia 1511.

Those skilled in the art should understand the storage medium is notlimited to the removable media 1511, such as, a magnetic disk (includingflexible disc), an optical disc (including compact-disc ROM (CD-ROM) anddigital versatile disk (DVD)), an magneto-optical disc (including an MD(Mini-Disc) (registered trademark)), or a semiconductor memory, in whichthe program is recorded and which are distributed to deliver the programto the user aside from a main body of a device, or the ROM 1502 or thehard disc involved in the storage unit 1508, where the program isrecorded and which are previously mounted on the main body of the deviceand delivered to the user.

The present disclosure further provides a program product havingmachine-readable instruction codes which, when being executed, may carryout the methods according to the embodiments.

Accordingly, the storage medium for bearing the program product havingthe machine-readable instruction codes is also included in thedisclosure. The storage medium includes but not limited to a flexibledisk, an optical disc, a magneto-optical disc, a storage card, or amemory stick, or the like.

In the above description of the embodiments, features described or shownwith respect to one embodiment may be used in one or more otherembodiments in a similar or same manner, or may be combined with thefeatures of the other embodiments, or may be used to replace thefeatures of the other embodiments.

As used herein, the terms the terms “comprise,” “include,” “have” andany variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion,such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a listof elements is not necessarily limited to those elements, but mayinclude other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process,method, article, or apparatus.

Further, in the disclosure the methods are not limited to a processperformed in temporal sequence according to the order described therein,instead, they can be executed in other temporal sequence, or be executedin parallel or separatively. That is, the executing orders describedabove should not be regarded as limiting the method thereto.

While some embodiments and examples have been disclosed above, it shouldbe noted that these embodiments and examples are only used to illustratethe present disclosure but not to limit the present disclosure. Variousmodifications, improvements and equivalents can be made by those skilledin the art without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.Such modifications, improvements and equivalents should also be regardedas being covered by the protection scope of the present disclosure.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A communication link activating method, foractivating an uplink of a secondary cell for a user equipment,comprising: determining, by circuitry of a communication link activatingapparatus, the number of component carriers received simultaneously by aradio frequency chain for the user equipment; determining, by thecircuitry, an activating manner employed for activating the uplinkaccording to the number of the component carriers; and sending a messagecarrying the activating manner.
 2. The method according to claim 1,wherein determining an activating manner employed for activating theuplink according to the number of the component carriers comprises: whenthe number of the component carriers is 1, determining that an explicitactivating manner is employed for activating the uplink.
 3. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein determining an activating manner employedfor activating the uplink according to the number of the componentcarriers comprises: when the number of the component carriers is largerthan 1, determining a frequency for activating the uplink; anddetermining an activating manner employed for activating the uplinkaccording to the frequency.
 4. The method according to claim 3, whereindetermining a frequency for activating the uplink comprises: determininga service type and/or an amount of data born by the user equipment; anddetermining the frequency for activating the uplink according to theservice type and/or the amount of data.
 5. The method according to claim4, wherein determining an activating manner employed for activating theuplink according to the frequency comprises: when the frequency is high,determining that an implicit activating manner is employed foractivating the uplink; and when the frequency is low, determining thatan explicit activating manner is employed for activating the uplink. 6.The method according claim 5, when an explicit activating manner isemployed for activating the uplink, the method further comprising:estimating a period of time required for adjusting the uplink; andassigning no wireless resource block to the user equipment in the periodof time.
 7. The method according to claim 2, further comprising: sendingan uplink transmission authorization with a carrier instruction fieldthrough a downlink; and activating the uplink corresponding to thecarrier instruction field.
 8. The method according to claim 2, furthercomprising: sending an uplink transmission authorization without acarrier instruction field through a downlink; and activating the uplinkassociated with the downlink.
 9. A communication link deactivatingmethod, for deactivating an uplink of a secondary cell for a userequipment, comprising: determining, by circuitry of a communication linkdeactivating apparatus, the number of component carriers receivedsimultaneously by a radio frequency chain for the user equipment;determining, by the circuitry, a deactivating manner employed fordeactivating the uplink according to the number of the componentcarriers; and sending a message carrying the deactivating manner. 10.The method according to claim 9, wherein determining a deactivatingmanner employed for deactivating the uplink according to the number ofthe component carriers comprises: when the number of the componentcarriers is 1, determining that an implicit manner is employed fordeactivating the uplink.
 11. The method according to claim 10, furthercomprising: closing the radio frequency chain after the uplink isdeactivated.
 12. The method according to claim 9, wherein determining adeactivating manner employed for deactivating the uplink according tothe number of the component carriers comprises: when the number of thecomponent carriers is larger than 1, determining an activating manneremployed for activating the uplink; and determining the deactivatingmanner employed for deactivating the uplink according the activatingmanner.
 13. The method according to claim 12, wherein determining thedeactivating manner employed for deactivating the uplink according theactivating manner comprises: when the activating manner is an explicitactivating manner, determining that an explicit deactivating manner isemployed for deactivating the uplink.
 14. The method according to claim12, wherein determining the deactivating manner employed fordeactivating the uplink according the activating manner comprises: whenthe activating manner is an implicit activating manner, determining thatan implicit deactivating manner is employed for deactivating the uplink.15. A communication link activating apparatus, for activating an uplinkof a secondary cell for a user equipment, comprising: circuitryconfigured to determine the number of component carriers receivedsimultaneously by a radio frequency chain for the user equipment;determine an activating manner employed for activating the uplinkaccording to the number of the component carriers; and send a messagecarrying the activating manner as desired.
 16. A communication linkdeactivating apparatus, for deactivating an uplink of a secondary cellfor a user equipment, comprising: circuitry configured to determine thenumber of component carriers received simultaneously by a radiofrequency chain for the user equipment; determine an deactivating manneremployed for deactivating the uplink according to the number of thecomponent carriers; and send a message carrying the deactivating manneras desired.
 17. A communication link activating method, for activatingan uplink of a secondary cell for a user equipment, comprising:receiving, by circuitry of a communication link activating apparatus, amessage carrying an activating manner determined according to a numberof component carriers received simultaneously by a radio frequency chainof the user equipment; and activating, by the circuitry, the uplinkaccording to the activating manner.
 18. The method according to claim17, wherein activating the uplink according to the activating mannercomprises: when the activating manner is an explicit activating manner,receiving an explicit activating command; and activating the uplink inresponse to the explicit activating command.
 19. The method according toclaim 18, wherein after the uplink is activated, the method furthercomprises: adjusting a transmission bandwidth of the radio frequencychain for the user equipment to a sum of bandwidths of a primary celland all activated secondary cells for the user equipment.
 20. The methodaccording to claim 17, wherein activating the uplink according to theactivating manner comprises: when the activating manner is an implicitactivating manner, adjusting a transmission bandwidth of the radiofrequency chain for the user equipment to a sum of bandwidths of aprimary cell and all secondary cells configured for the user equipment.21. A communication link deactivating method, for deactivating an uplinkof a secondary cell for a user equipment, comprising: receiving, bycircuitry of a communication link deactivating apparatus, a messagecarrying an deactivating manner determined according to a number ofcomponent carriers received simultaneously by a radio frequency chain ofthe user equipment; and deactivating, by the circuitry, the uplinkaccording to the deactivating manner.
 22. The method according to claim21, wherein deactivating the uplink according to the deactivating mannercomprises: when the deactivating manner is an explicit deactivatingmanner, receiving an explicit deactivating command; and deactivating theuplink in response to the explicit deactivating command.
 23. The methodaccording to claim 21, wherein deactivating the uplink according to thedeactivating manner comprises: when the deactivating manner is animplicit deactivating manner, determining whether a downlinkcorresponding to the uplink is deactivated; and when the downlink isdeactivated, deactivating the uplink.
 24. A communication linkactivating apparatus, for activating an uplink of a secondary cell for auser equipment, comprising: circuitry configured to receive a messagecarrying an activating manner determined according to a number ofcomponent carriers received simultaneously by a radio frequency chain ofthe user equipment; and activate the uplink according to the activatingmanner.
 25. A communication link deactivating apparatus, fordeactivating an uplink of a secondary cell for a user equipment,comprising: circuitry configured to receive a message carrying andeactivating manner determined according to a number of componentcarriers received simultaneously by a radio frequency chain of the userequipment; and deactivate the uplink according to the deactivatingmanner.